Chapter 10

Jack found his eyes opening slowly; he hadn't realized it but the boy had fallen asleep in Pitch's arms. The Nightmare King smiled, as Jack rubbed his eyes. "You dozed off."

"I guess so. Sorry." Jack sat up and he suddenly realized there was strange light coming from outside Pitch's lair. They were the Northern Lights. "Pitch how long have those lights been out there?"

The boogeyman shrugged his shoulders. "About fifteen minutes."

"Shit," Jack shouted as he jumped out of bed and grabbed his staff. "Why didn't you tell me?! It'll take me another five minutes to get there!" The frost elf went to leave, when he suddenly felt his hood grabbed, and was lifted off the ground so that he and Pitch met eye to eye. "Put me down! I gotta go!"

"Why should I?" Pitch asked, his face showing slight irritation. "You're going to go and see the Guardians, there's not much in it for me, now is there?"

"I can't just stop being a Guardian!" Jack replied, getting annoyed. "It doesn't work that way!"

"I don't play by your rules." Pitch said, a devious smile on his face.

The snow spirit sighed. "Alright, I'm warning you, put me down now."

The Nightmare King laughed. "No."

"I warned you." Jack touched his staff to Pitch's wrist, freezing over the man's hand. Pitch let out a small cry and let go of the boy. Jack quickly flew towards the exit. Right before Jack left he turned around and said: "No hard feeling, kay? Bye!"

A few minutes after Jack left, feeling returned to Pitch's left hand. "Damn that boy!" The boogeyman said sitting down on the couch. "The next time I see him, I'll lock him in one of those cages and see how he likes it!"

Meanwhile at the North pole, the Guardians were beginning to get worried. "He should have been here by now," Tooth thought aloud, flying around faster than normal. "You don't think Pitch-"

"There's no way, mate." Bunnymund put in. "Jack would have ta be pretty dumb to lower his guard so Pitch could catch him." Sandy looked concerned and uncertain, but added nothing to the conversation.

"We can't be sure," North stated. "To sleigh!" The group began to head towards the elevator, when a sudden gust of wind blew into the workshop.

Jack flew in through the open window. "Where's everyone going? Did I miss something?" The Guardians were relieved to see the frost elf.

"Jack my boy," North started, "where have you been?"

"Well I um was sorta in the middle of something and didn't notice the lights." Jack said, laying his staff across his shoulders.

"Whoa, whoa, you didn't notice?" Bunny asked, frustrated.

"Um, yeah." The guardian of fun clarified.

"You can't just not notice that signal, mate. We thought you were captured by Pitch." Bunnymund shot back.

"I'm sorry," Jack said not wanting to get into an argument. "That's my bad, we good?"

"I suppose," Bunny said, still slightly annoyed.

Seeing the argument over, North decided it best to begin, so everyone could get back to their jobs. "We are here because early this morning Sandy detected large amount of nightmaresand." Jack's eyes got large; he knew the nightmaresand that Sandman detected was the dinosaur he asked Pitch to make for him.

Nervous, the snow spirit stuffed his hands into his sweatshirt pocket, to find them touching a grainy substance. Not thinking he scooped it into into his hand and pulled it out; it was a tiny pile of nightmaresand.

"Jack, where did you get that?!" Tooth asked.

Jack stared at the sand, shocked as well. "I-I don't know."

Bunny turned to Sandy. "I thought you said there was no more nightmare sand on him!"

Sandman's symbols translated as: "There wasn't any!" Sandy held out his hand, Jack poured the nightmare sand into it, and it soon changed into dreamsand.

"This proves we need be on high alert." North said, with authority. "We need to look out for Pitch, don't let guard down." The Guardians all left and when Jack got a little ways away from the pole, Sandman stopped him.

"Oh, hey Sandy," Jack said. Sandy stared at him without any expression, causing the boy to fidget slightly. "Um..What's the matter?"

The symbols above Sandy's head were a hand with sand in it, and a question mark. "I have no idea," the frost elf replied. "Do you think you might've missed some?" Sandman shook his head. "Well I dunno. I'm sure everything's okay, no need to wor-"

Sandman grabbed Jack's hand, and before he could reflect he was placed in the back seat of a dreamsand airplane. "Whoa, whoa, whoa were are we going?" A symbol of an island with a castle flashed above Sandy's head. "An island?" Sandman nodded his head.

After a short distance they arrived at the ocean, the sky here was dark and filled with stars. It seemed as if there was nothing but the sea, when suddenly an island appeared in the distance. There was a large castle made out of sand; it was beautiful. "Sandy you live there?!" Sandman smiled and nodded his head.

They landed on the island, and the plane disappeared. The guardian of fun stood gaping at the massive sand structure; Sandy rolled his eyes and dragged Jack inside. When they got inside, the snow spirit was reminded of his question. "Why'd you bring me here?"

Sandy's symbols translated as: "You should stay here one night, to be safe."

Jack let out a heavy sigh. "Sandy I'm fine." Sandman rose so that he and Jack were the same height, and glared. "Alright, alright, sheesh. No need to get mad."

Sandy led Jack into a guest room with a high ceiling, bed, desk, a small bookcase, and a window seat under a carefully carved bay style window. "Geez, this place is stunning." Symbols of children in their beds flashed above Sandman's head. "Duty calls, I suppose," Jack replied with a smile.

Sandy pointed to Jack, then at the floor, and finally pounded his fists together. Jack knowing well not to get on Sandy's bad side realized he would have to stay there for the night. "Okay, I get it. I won't leave the island." Satisfied, Sandman waved goodbye and headed towards his first destination.

Jack sat down at the window seat, and rested his head and arms on the windowsill. The cool breeze felt good, and sound of the waves was relaxing. Letting his thoughts wander, the guardian suddenly found himself laughing. "If Pitch knew I was here he'd get so mad!" Jack's expression changed, remembering how angry Pitch looked. "I should probably fix that." Jack made a rose bouquet out of ice with a little ribbon that said: Sorry!

The boy stood on the windowsill. "HEY WIND!" In response the wind became stronger. "Send this to Pitch." The ice flowers were suddenly ripped from his hand and swept away in the breeze. Jack smiled, and found himself yawning. Jack was annoyed by his exhaustion, but was too tired to try and fight it. Reluctantly the frost elf climbed into the bed, and instantly fell asleep.

In the meantime Pitch was standing outside his lair, irritated by the way Jack left so suddenly. In the midst of his thoughts, Pitch realized the wind was growing much stronger. Then he saw something flying towards him, it landed in a snowbank a few feet away. Curious, the Nightmare King grabbed the object. After examining the bouquet, Pitch couldn't help but grin. The boogeyman turned to head inside, no longer angry. "How adorable."

To be continued.

New chapter, yay! So if you haven't read the picture book about sandman, he lives on an island. No, I'm sure he doesn't have guest bedrooms, but it sounded like a good thing to add. Ain't Jack so sweet? In my opinion this song kind of sums up Pitch and Jack's conflicting relationship: [link] However that's just my opinion. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, bye!